Sound Classification

Question 1

Articulation

Answer 1

The vocal tract movements needed for speech sound production.

Involves accuracy in placement of the articulators to include timing, direction of movement, force extended, speed of response and integration of all of these events

Question 2

Articulators

Answer 2

Tongue
Teeth
Lower Jaw or Mandible
Lips or Labial Muscles
Hard Palate
	--	Alveolar Ridge
Soft Palate/Velum

Question 3

The Tongue

Answer 3

Most important and most mobile articulator

Question 4

Parts of the Tongue

Answer 4

Body: the main mass of the tongue (does not include Root)
4 articulating parts of the tongue include:
Tip: Forward end of Tongue
Blade: Behind tip; used with tip down, more than tip alone; forms constriction in front part of palate
NOTE: The Tip is seldom separated from the Blade in normal use; The combination occurs during over 50% of consonant productions in an average English speech sample
Dorsum: back part, forms constriction in palatovelar area (where soft and hard portions of palate come together); used in velar sounds (/k, g/)
Root: forms the front wall of pharynx; shapes the vocal tract

Question 5

CONSONANTS

Answer 5

Closed or narrowly constricted passage – Some consonants are voiced and some are unvoiced.

Question 6

VOWELS

Answer 6

Open passage – All vowels are voiced

Categorized by 3 dimensions:
  Tongue Position & Height
  (Front, Central, Back, High, Mid, Low)
  Tongue Tension - Tense or Lax
  Lip Rounding - Rounded or Unrounded

Question 7

High front Vowel(s)

Answer 7

/i/ and /ɪ/

Question 8

Mid front Vowel(s)

Answer 8

/e/ and /ɛ/

Question 9

Low front Vowel(s)

Answer 9

/æ/

Question 10

Mid central Vowel(s)

Answer 10

/ʌ/ /ə/ /ɝ/ /ɚ/

Question 11

High back Vowel(s)

Answer 11

/u/ /ʊ/

Question 12

Mid back Vowel(s)

Answer 12

/о/ /ɔ/

Question 13

Low back Vowel(s)

Answer 13

/ɑ/

Question 14

Tense-Tongue Vowel(s)

Answer 14

Tense = longer duration & more muscle tension. Occurs in word final syllable usually at the end of a one syllable word. Examples: ‘bee’, ‘bay’, ‘too’, ‘tow’, ‘law’, ‘spa’,
/i/, /e/, /u/, /o/, /ɔ/, /ɑ/

Question 15

Lax-Tongue Vowel(s)

Answer 15

Lax = without tension and cannot usually end a word in final position.
- /ɪ/, /ɛ/, /æ/, /ʊ/,

Question 16

Rounded Lips

Answer 16

Rounded
/o/, /u/, /ʊ/, /ɔ/

Most front vowels are unrounded and back vowels are rounded except for /ɑ/.

Question 17

Unrounded Lips

Answer 17

Unrounded
- /i/, /ɪ/, /e/, /ɛ/, /æ/, /ɑ/,

Most front vowels are unrounded and back vowels are rounded except for /ɑ/.

Question 18

Consonant Characteristics:

Answer 18

Place
Manner
Voicing

Question 19

Place of Articulation

Answer 19

Place of articulation refers to the point of contact for articulators to produce a speech sound. Think of where the sound is anatomically produced.

Labials 
Bilabial
Labiodental
Interdentals
Alveolar
Palatals
Velars
Glottal

Question 20

Labials

Answer 20

One or both lips are used (labial muscles)

Question 21

Bilabial

Answer 21

(both lips)

/p/ /b/ /m/

/w/ (note that the /w/ is doubly-articulated in place of production and produced as both a labial & velar)

Question 22

Labiodental

Answer 22

(lower lip and teeth)

/f/ /v/

Question 23

Interdentals/Linguadental

Answer 23

Tongue placed between teeth or contacts the upper teeth

/Ɵ/ (theta or unvoiced “th”)
/ð/ (eth or voiced “th”)

Question 24

Alveolar

Answer 24

Tongue makes contact with upper alveolar ridge.

/t/ /d/ /s/ /z/ /n/ /l/

/r/ may be classified as Alveolar in some books

Question 25

Palatals

Answer 25

Tongue makes contact with the hard palate /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /ʧ/ /ʤ/ /j/ /r/ /ɚ/ We put the /ɚ/ here so you can feel the difference between the vocalic “er” and /r/ but it usually isn’t classified as a palatal with the consonant phonemes

Question 26

Velars

Answer 26

Back of tongue makes contact to the soft palate or velum /k/ /g/ /ŋ/

Question 27

Glottal

Answer 27

Sound is produced at the level of vocal folds. /h/= only glottal phoneme in American English / ʔ/= glottal stop Stoppage of air at the vocal folds “uh-oh”

Question 28

Manner of Articulation

Answer 28

Refers to: HOW sounds are produced or how the airflow is obstructed ``` Plosives or Stops Fricatives Affricates Nasals Glides Liquids ```

Question 29

Plosives or Stops

Answer 29

Air pressure is built up in the mouth/oral cavity and suddenly released. /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/

Question 30

Fricatives

Answer 30

Air is forced through a narrow opening in mouth. Creates friction. /f/ /v/ /Ɵ/ /ð/ /s/ /z/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /h/

Question 31

Affricates

Answer 31

Affricates are a combination of a stop and a fricative (stop onset and fricative release) /ʧ/ and /ʤ/

Question 32

Nasals

Answer 32

Nasals are created by closing the oral cavity, thereby allowing air to pass through the nasal cavity or nose. /m/ /n/ /ŋ/

Question 33

Glides

Answer 33

AKA= Semivowels These phonemes possess vowel-like qualities (constriction of vocal tract is greater though than of vowels) Early developing sounds in sound development /w/ /j/

Question 34

Liquids

Answer 34

The phonemes in this category used to be considered glides or approximants AKA: semivowels or laterals (but do not use these terms in this class – stick to liquids). Production is made with large opening between tongue and hard palate. Later developing sounds in sound development /l/ /r/

Question 35

Voicing

Answer 35

Another way to classify sounds. Dependent upon if voicing occurs when phoneme is produced. Voiced: vocal cords vibrate together during production (glottis is closed)- adduction Voiceless: vocal cords are open during production (glottis is open) - abduction

Question 36

Cognates

Answer 36

A pair of consonants are produced in the same place and manner but differ only in voicing. (that is, one is voiced and one is voiceless). One can distinguish over half of the consonants by voicing! ``` 8 cognates (pairs)=16 consonants /p,b/ /Ɵ,ð/ /f,v/ /t,d/ /s,z/ /ʧ,ʤ/ /ʃ,ʒ/ /k,g/ ```

Question 37

Sonorant / Obstruent

Answer 37

“A classification to distinguish All English consonants according to the amount of vocal tract obstruction necessary for their production”.

Question 38

Sonorant:

Answer 38

Minimal obstruction of laryngeal airflow in the vocal tract All Sonorants are voiced /m, n, ŋ, l, r, j, w/ (and all vowels are too)

Question 39

Obstruents

Answer 39

Consonants that are produced with a considerable amount of obstruction to the breathstream in the oral cavity. Approximately ½ of Obstruents are voiced and ½ are unvoiced. /p,b,t,d,k,g,ʧ,ʤ,f,v,Ɵ,ð,s,z,ʃ,ʒ,h/

Question 40

Which letters in English spelling are not used in English language phonetic transcription?

Answer 40

x, c, q, y

Question 41

Flap /ɾ/ A very quick stop usually between two vowels Contact between two articulators (which ones?) is very brief. Examples: /lɪɾəl/ or /lɪɾl/,

Answer 41

A very quick stop usually between two vowels Contact between two articulators (which ones?) is very brief. Examples: /lɪɾəl/ or /lɪɾl/,

Question 42

Syllabics

Answer 42

Defined - a consonant with a vowel like quality All syllables must contain a vowel or vowel-like sound. The nucleus of a syllable is generally the vowel. When there isn’t a vowel , some sonorants will serve as the vowel for the syllable and become the nucleus